Welcome

We are interested in the mechanisms of the transfer of chirality respectively chiral information in systems relevant for asymmetric catalysis and chiral recognition. Our main experimental tool is vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) spectroscopy.

This work shows that the intuitive assumption of the sterically less hindered amide group being solvated preferentially does not hold for the cases of two 2,6-pyridinediyl-dialkylamides. Using vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) spectroscopy, solvation is found to induce significant conformational changes, which are not immediately apparent from 1H NMR data.

The work got rated as "hot paper" by the reviewers and was featured on the front cover of Chem. Eur. J. Read more about it in the Cover Profile or of course in the paper.

In this PCCP article, we report how different solvents affect the VCD spectral signatures of a chiral carboxylic acid, and show that sometimes even ACN needs to be considered explicitly to reproduce the experimentally observed spectra.

As part of the special issue on solvation of the german chemistry journal "Chemie in unserer Zeit", Christian writes about the solvation shell around chiral molecules and how it can be affected by the solute.

The chiroptical properties of both the E- and Z-isomer of a champhorquinone imine derivative are studied by means of MI-VCD spectroscopy, which is showcased as a powerful tool for the characterization of the switching states of chiral molecular motors.

Using VCD, the conformational preferences of a chiral thiourea in different solvents and its interaction with an acetate anion were investigated. Characteristic spectral signatures were found for different groups ofconformers and showcase the potential of using VCD spectroscopy to study reactant–catalyst interactions.

In our new paper on MI-VCD, we show that the conformation of a chiral molecule can be significantly distorted due to matrix packing effects.

April 2016:Old and new members

Contratulations to Karo for submitting her Masters thesis, and also good luck for your PhD project in our lab! :) Furthermore, we welcome Jana and Hendrik, who join us for the summer for their Bachlor thesis project.

In collaboration with Benjamin List from the Max-Planck-Institut for Coal Research, VCD spectroscopy was used to study the transmission of stereochemical information in a chiral ion pair based catalyst. Spectral features indicative of chirality transfer from the chiral anion to the achiral cation can be correlated with the enantioselectivity of the catalyst.

Chirality as probe for intermolecular interactions is the fundamental idea of many of our research projects. In advance of the Bunsentagung, the annual meeting of the German Society for Physical Chemistry, Christian presents a review in the Bunsenmagazin.

01. November 2014 Corina's first day

Today, Corina joins the lab as the first PhD student. She got her MSc degree in physical organic chemistry in Wolfram Sander's group, and decided to move to the lab next door to work on interactions of chiral molecules. Welcome and good luck. :)

A chiral amine–borane is investigated by VCD spectroscopy. By comparison of experimental and calculated spectra, a unique VCD pattern associated with the formation of dihydrogen-bonded dimers in solution is identified. Different dihydrogen binding arrangements in solution and in solid state are characterized.

Solvent-driven chiroptical switching of a helical chiral poly(carbodiimide): In collaboration with the group of Bruce Novak (University of Texas, Dallas), we investigate the structural changes of a chiral polymer upon change of solvent polarity and temperature and observe the flipping of polymer side groups and a shrinking of the backbone.

Solvent-effects in chiral transition metal complex: A comparison between the experimental and calculated VCD spectra proves the existence of both Δ and Λ isomers in an acetonitrile solution. However, a significant shift of the equilibrium toward the Λ diastereomer is found for the complex in dimethyl sulfoxide.

Christian's first day as research group leader at the Faculty of Chemistry. The position is funded by the Fonds der chemischen Industrie with a Liebig fellowship. The group and instrumentation is funded by the Cluster of Excellence RESOLV.

Open Positions

Interested in working on an exciting research project involving synthesis, experimental and theoretical IR/VCD spectroscopy? We are always looking for Bachelor and Master students and offer experiments for practical lab courses.